Afloat
by neotantrika
Summary: During a power outage, gravity goes off in Serenity. Mal checks Inara's shuttle to make sure it's been restored, and winds up tangled in more than just silk sheets.


Mal closed the shuttle hatch behind him and immediately felt a lurch as Serenity's gravity cut off, leaving him half-floating in the semi-darkness. 

"Inara?" he called softly.

No answer. Kaylee had already fixed the power failure that had cut off all ship's systems, but a system check had told him that gravity had not been restored to Inara's shuttle. Folk could get hurt by floating objects in zero-gee.

The silk panels swathing her room parted like clouds under his hands. He pushed off from the floor on a carefully calculated arc into the main area. It was a maze of floating gauze and satin, like swimming through red kelp. Something brushed his hand and he looked down; a strap-on dildo bounced away. A string of beads in graduated sizes tumbled in a knot of gleaming pearls. Small globules of scented oil blipped softly from a spinning swan-necked jar.

_Where was she?_

He saw a bare foot and grabbed at it in passing, missed. Found a wall coming at him, turned in a clean somersault and pushed off, aiming for the foot. He saw her, wrapped in red silk, asleep, her black hair a halo. She'd floated up off her bed when the grav cut out, and now drifted in the center of the room. _When grav comes back, it'll slam her to the floor._

He missed her foot again, caught a handful of wispy silk, and came to rest against the opposite wall. He grabbed an anchor hold and hung on. He tugged on the silk in his fist. She coasted towards him, asleep. But the fabric wasn't wrapped tightly around her, it began to slip, and before he knew it he was holding a wad of filmy stuff and she was hovering in front of him, naked, beautiful. Gloriously curved and dimpled, nipples rosy and inviting, the dark curls at her cunt just begging to be touched. He swallowed, knew he was hard as a rock.

Naturally, that was the moment she opened her eyes. "Mal?"

"I...uh..."

Her glance took in the floating fabric, her position in the center of the room. "Grav is off. Is everyone all right?" she asked calmly.

Of course her first question would be about others. "Yeah. I was just, uh..."

"Making sure I wouldn't hurt myself." Dark eyes, serene. _Unafraid_.

"Uh. Yeah."

She reached out towards him. "Pull me in?"

Her hand was soft, but strong. He pulled, maybe too hard, and she was coming too fast to avoid smashing into the bulkhead. He put out his arm and there she was, his hand on her breast, the rest of her warm against his body and smelling like heaven.

A man could only say no to himself so long. His mouth met hers halfway--luscious. Perfect lips, parting under his. Nipple hardening against his palm. Her hand in his hair, drifting down his arm, squeezing his bicep, down further to press against the bulge in his pants. Unable to stop himself, he moaned helplessly as she stroked him. Her tongue teased his. He cupped one round breast, felt her tugging his other hand lower, gasped as his palm came to rest on those dark curls. She brought her knees up around him, opening under his palm and he felt wet, slick warmth. She made a little humming sound when his finger found her clit; he touched her gently, afraid of hurting her.

Her hand busied at his pants, then her hand closed around his cock and he gasped as she raised herself, bringing her cunt higher, flicking his cock across her open, wet pussy until he thought he would burst.

_"Inara..."_ he breathed.

_"Yes."_

She lowered herself, enclosing him. It was like coming home after being away forever. She wrapped her legs around his thighs and he plunged deep, wanting to drown in her, all soft and slick and tight, smelling nothing like the despair and rust that filled his life. Her arching back brought her nipple to his mouth; she tasted of apricots. She shifted, changed his angle, moaned. And then he felt the long rippling squeeze as she came around his cock and he exploded into her, gasping. He let go of the anchor and they were turning, connected, afloat...

Suddenly he was heavy again. The bed slammed into his back, and there were small crashing sounds all over the room, and she fell off of him and it was over.

_Back to normal. Can't let her in. Can't do this. It'll break me._

"Your rent for this quarter is paid," he said, and rolled out of the bed.


End file.
